SS4 Masters of Fate Part 1
by Denise Felt
Summary: Straker travels to Sydney when the research team reports new information about the alien device. But is it a trap?


**4. Masters of Fate - Part 1**

**(A UFO Story)**

by Denise Felt 2010

**_Men at some time are masters of their fates_. – Julius Caesar, Act 1 Scene 2**

**Chapter 1**

Paul Foster stared at the ficus tree standing in its ornamental urn in Moonbase's Central Park and sighed, admitting to himself the awful truth. He was bored. The staff evaluations were done and had been faxed down to HQ for Straker to process. The interceptors were finished with the newest upgrades for their onboard computers, and although R & D had promised more upgrades to follow, they were good to go for now. And his latest love affair had hit the wall. The wall being his ungodly schedule, of course.

"Why don't you just quit?" she'd had the gall to ask him. "Find yourself a different job with better work hours?"

Oh, yeah. That would be happening. Exit one Christiana, Cris for short. He hadn't even been with her long enough to be tired of her, that was the thing that bothered him the most. And here he was stuck on Moonbase again, where the pickings were slim. How was a guy supposed to pass the time without someone to snuggle with? He could play chess with some of the pilots, but chess was for old people who had nothing better to do with their day. He supposed he could grab Barlow for a nice energetic boxing match in the gym, but he'd already had one workout today and wasn't in the mood for sparring. Damn it! He wanted something to do.

Maybe one of the spheres could spring a leak, and he could help patch it up. Or one of the hydraulic lifts for the interceptor bays could go out, and he could assist in replacing the mechanism. Or – hell, he didn't care! Anything as a solution to this infernal boredom! He'd even take an alien attack!

He looked around swiftly as he had that thought, feeling guilty for even thinking it. He wanted Earth safe from those bastards. Of course, he did. In fact, he wanted to be the one to shut them down – for good. But he was so much better equipped to handle an enemy that he could engage at his will, not theirs. The damned waiting for them to strike drove him crazy. He hated waiting. Always alert. Rarely needed. As a career choice, it stunk. Well, he could always take Cris' advice and tell Straker he wanted better working conditions and an enemy he could actually fight instead of play cat and mouse with. Yeah, he could see that one going over.

Hell, he'd been trying for months to get Straker to see him as command material. He could hardly complain about the lack of action now. If he ever wanted to sit in Straker's chair, he'd have to get used to times like these. The commander certainly wouldn't be sympathetic to his current woes. Straker had told him once that sitting around doing nothing but thinking could be a very productive use of time. Yeah. Sure. But Straker was older, wasn't he? Less active than he was when things were just starting out at SHADO. Paul would have liked to have been around in those days, by God! That was when the real action took place, when lives were on the line every day. Not like now, when they were just maintaining. Just trying to keep things running smoothly.

He sighed again. If things got any quieter, he'd be dead. He could see his tombstone now: _Paul J. Foster, dead of ennui_. Someone entered Central Park just then, and he looked up, hoping for a diversion. But it was only Lt. Ellis, passing through on her way to the Command Sphere for her shift. She greeted him, but didn't stop to chat. She had work to do. He glared at her retreating form as she left the room, knowing that he was being resentful without cause. She and all her trackers did an exemplary job protecting Earth from invasion. He just wished they weren't quite so competent. Then maybe he'd have some work to do.

Of course, it wouldn't hurt if they were a little more amenable to having fun during their off-hours. But Ellis ran a tight ship, and frankly, she intimidated him. So he hadn't made many overtures to her trackers, because the casual ones he'd made in the past had been rebuffed – in an unflatteringly swift fashion. Which was a shame, because they were lovely women, all of them, and he'd have enjoyed the diversion of their company while he was here.

Suddenly, the alarm klaxons went off, signaling a sighting.

_Thank God_, was all he could think as he headed for the Command Sphere. Maybe he wouldn't die of boredom after all.

***

"Excuse me?"

She looked at him, surprised by his tone. She removed the casserole from the oven and carried it to the table. "I said, I think we should see if we can have John over more often."

Straker was pleased. Truly he was, that she would want to spend time with John. All his worries in that direction had been for nothing. They seemed to have taken to each other on sight. Which was wonderful. Truly. But not when it led to this. He sighed. He really didn't want to get into anything like this right now. He wanted to enjoy lunch with his bride. Not bring up painful topics. Perhaps he could deflect it for a while. "Can we discuss this later?"

Chandra sat across from him at the table. "Why?"

"I'd like the chance to enjoy my meal," he said quietly.

She frowned. "Ed, I'm not about to yell at you or anything."

"I know."

Since he said no more, she was intensely curious. What did he mean then? But she held her tongue, allowing him to eat his lunch without her questions. However, it was an uncharacteristically silent meal, because she couldn't think of anything innocuous to say instead.

Finally he put down his fork, pouring himself a second cup of coffee and looking at his patient wife. He sighed and said, "Thank you. I suppose you want to know how I feel about having him here more than once a month. Is that it?"

"Yes."

"I'd love to have him here more often, especially now that you're here too. It feels like a home with both of you here. Like a family."

She grinned. "Maybe because we _are_ a family, Ed."

His lips quirked. "You know what I mean. I was used to being alone before you. And even with you, there are times when things are quiet. These past two visits with John were simply wonderful. Noisy, but wonderful. Well -- other than your accident, of course. But I am enjoying the change of dynamics when he's around both of us."

"Me too."

He nodded. "That said, it's not a simple thing to ask for more visitation. Especially right now."

"I don't understand," she said. "John seemed to think that you getting remarried would make it easier for you to get more visitation."

"In theory. Yes. However, there are certain circumstances that affect it, making the whole thing a lot harder."

She looked keenly at him. "Such as?"

He sipped his coffee, trying to come up with the least hurtful way to tell her. "Chandra, can you just accept that now is not the time to push for this? Will you trust me to know when the situation has changed enough for us to try?"

She stared into his eyes a long time, then looked down at the table. "I trust you, Ed. But do you trust me? I have the feeling that you're keeping things from me."

"Chandra . . ."

She got up abruptly, taking the casserole dish back into the kitchen. When she came back out, she said nothing, merely collecting their plates for the dishwasher. But she looked unhappy.

Damn it. He'd known this was not going to be easy. He wanted nothing more than to protect her from any pain. But her own curious nature made it difficult. He followed her into the kitchen, putting his arms around her from behind and drawing her close. He kissed the jawline near her ear, delighting in its softness against his lips. He felt her melt in his arms and was relieved that she wasn't furious with him.

"Will you come with me a moment?" he asked softly. "There's something I want to show you."

"Okay."

He led her to the study and drew out John's statement from his filing cabinet. "This should explain most of it," he said somewhat grimly.

She looked at him for a moment, unsure if she really wanted to know after all. Then she bent her head and read.

***

"What's the situation, Lt. Ellis?" Paul asked as he entered the Command sphere.

She looked at him from where she stood near Nina Barry's station. "Three UFOs, sir. Heading for Earth, grid reference 248.136 Red."

He settled behind the main center console and pulled up the image on his screen. "Trajectory?" he asked after a moment.

Lt. Harrington answered from her station. "Antarctica, sir."

"Really?" he said sardonically. "Wonder what they would be wanting there?" He flicked on the monitor that would transmit to HQ, then spoke into the mike. "Moonbase to SHADO Control. We have three UFOs on positive track, trajectory Antarctica."

Alec Freeman's face appeared on the monitor. "Antarctica? They just don't give up, do they?"

"Think they're here to turn that device on, Alec?" Paul asked.

"I wouldn't bet against it," the colonel answered.

"Wonder what they'll think when they find out it's not there?"

Freeman's expression tightened. "Let's hope we don't have to find out, Paul. Launch interceptors."

"Roger." He turned from the monitor to alert the pilots via intercom. "Interceptors, immediate launch!" he said.

From deep within the surface of the moon, three interceptors fired their engines and waited for the hydraulic lifts to take them up to the base of their craters. Once there, they engaged thrusters and lifted off, heading toward the three alien craft speeding toward Earth.

Long minutes later, they radioed back to Moonbase.

"Interceptor 1 to Moonbase. Detonation positive. UFO destroyed."

"Interceptor 2 to Moonbase. Detonation positive. UFO destroyed."

"Interceptor 3 to Moonbase. Detonation positive. UFO unharmed and continuing into Earth's atmosphere."

Foster radioed back. "Roger. All interceptors return to base."

Then he turned back to the monitor where Alec waited. "We got two of them, Alec. The third got through. Do you have a lock on it?"

Col. Freeman glanced at Lt. Ford, who nodded once. Then Alec looked back at the monitor. "Yes, Paul. We'll take it from here. Tell the pilots thanks for a good job."

"Right." Foster clicked the monitor off, then brooded as he watched the third UFO's blip on the screen head toward Earth. He would have been much happier if they'd gotten them all. He had to admit that he'd gotten a little spoiled by the interceptors' recent perfect record. Oh, well. Skydiver would get the thing, and that would be the end of it. For today, at least.

He got up from the console and headed out of the sphere, wanting to give the pilots Alec's message face to face.

***

"Sky 2 to SHADO HQ. Have UFO on positive track. Visual contact in three minutes, fifteen seconds."

Alec leaned into the mike at the communication station. "Roger, Sky 2. Charlie, get this bastard for us, won't you?"

Captain Morris grinned as his headset radioed the colonel's comment to him. "Happy to do that for you, boss," he radioed back, relieved to be dealing with Alec rather than the commander. Somehow having Straker on the other end of the headset made him more nervous than whenever it was the colonel. At those times, it was almost as if he could feel those icy blue eyes boring into the back of his head. Much better to think about Alec watching on the other end, wishing him all the best.

"Coming into visual range now, sir," he radioed. He looked around for the UFO and spotted it just beyond a small bank of clouds near his right wing. "UFO sighted," he said, banking to bring it into the range of his weapons.

When his ship exploded seconds later, he didn't even have the time to wish he'd gotten off a shot.

**Chapter 2**

"Anything?"

Lt. Ford turned away from his instrumentation toward where the colonel stood. "No contact, sir. They've both dropped off our radar."

Alec stared at the radar screen, as if forcing it to tell him what he needed to know. Finally he said, "Get Sky 5 in the air."

"Sir, there's no way it'll reach the Antarctic in time," Ford ventured to say.

Freeman ran a hand over his face. "I know, Keith," he said heavily. "But we need to know whether Sky 2 got that UFO. Tell Captain Masters to search for any debris."

Ford opened his mouth to ask a question, then closed it and turned to his microphone. "This is HQ calling Skydiver 5."

***

He didn't immediately follow her from the study. He knew she'd want a moment to think things over before speaking to him. So he took his time, placing John's statement back into its folder and sliding it into the drawer of the filing cabinet before locking it.

When he emerged from the study, she was nowhere in sight. He eventually found her outside on the patio, looking out over the tops of the distant trees, her arms crossed in a defensive gesture that ripped at his heart.

"Chandra," he said quietly.

She didn't look at him when she answered. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He could hear the tears in her voice, and it made him angry that he couldn't stop any of this from happening. He'd tried. Damned if he hadn't tried. His voice sounded harsh with anger when he said, "Are you serious?"

She turned to him then, surprised by the heat in his voice. "What do you mean?"

He gestured. "Look at you! Do you think I wanted this? It's hard enough dealing with whatever she decides to throw at me. Am I supposed to just include you in the fun?"

She looked at him searchingly for a moment, then said, "You weren't trying to shut me out?"

He sighed. "I was trying to protect you. Surely you understand the concept?"

She gave him a watery grin in response to his sarcasm. And came to him, wrapping her arms around him for comfort. "Thanks," she said softly.

He held her close, wishing there was a way to take all the sting away. "I'm sorry, darling."

"Don't apologize, Ed. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes, I did," he said unexpectedly. "I married her. I can't tell you how many times I've regretted that one thing over the years."

She squeezed him tightly, hearing the pain in his voice. "Would you do things differently if given the chance?"

He sighed, glad that she at least asked him. "No. If I hadn't married her, John wouldn't have been. I can't be sorry for that, no matter what else I regret."

"That's what I thought," she told him quietly. "He's a very special young man. Worth a lot of pain, I would think."

"Yes, he is," he agreed. "I just wish there was a way to keep her from hurting you."

"That's what you meant by all those comments about the difference in our ages, wasn't it? You knew what she'd think. What a lot of people probably thought when you married me."

His arms tightened around her. "I don't care what they think!" he said fiercely. "They don't have any idea of how wonderful you truly are, and if they did, they'd only want you for themselves. Well, they can't have you. You married me. And I'm not giving you up."

Chandra sighed. "It never occurred to me that by marrying you, I would make people think badly of you, Ed."

He drew back and framed her face with his hands. "Listen to me, Chandra. I don't care. They can say what they like. All that matters to me is that we're together. I don't want that to ever change. Please don't change it. Don't take the only real happiness I've ever experienced away from me over something like this. Something so unimportant."

"Ed!" she whispered. "I wouldn't do that. I promise you!"

His blue eyes searched her face. "You wouldn't?"

"No!" She laid her slender hands over his on her face, giving comfort. "Why would you think I would? You're my life. I'd have to be stupid to give you up."

He chuckled, resting his forehead on hers. "Sometimes your talent terrifies me, because in a way you have more control over my life than I do. And I suppose I'm a little worried about being so happy with you. It's not normal for me, you know. I keep waiting for everything to blow up in my face and take you away from me."

She stared into his eyes for a long time. Then she said seriously, "It's because I saved John, isn't it? Without asking you first."

He sighed. "I'm grateful. You need to understand that. But my God, Chandra! It was hardly a little thing you did. What if you decided to do something else for me? Something that would end up taking you out of my life?"

She shook her head. "I would ask you first, Ed. It's your life, after all. Your choice. I would never take that away from you." He looked skeptical, so she continued. "When I saved John's life, I knew it was something you wanted. What father wouldn't? But you wouldn't have – _couldn't_ have – asked me to do it for you."

"Why not?"

"Because you felt guilty somehow for his death. I don't know the intricacies of it, Ed. You never spoke of it to me. I only know what I sensed in you, and the little that Alec told me. Somehow you blamed yourself for his death, and you carried that around inside you all the time. It ate at you and tortured you, but you would never have asked to be released from it. Because you felt you deserved it. That you should have to live in pain forever for letting him down. Like I said, I don't know the details. I just know how it seemed to me. And I couldn't bear it. I couldn't sit back and let you stay in that kind of torment without doing what I could to help.

"And it was the right thing to do. I knew it when I did it. And I still know it now. But it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime acts, Ed. I wouldn't arbitrarily play with your life like that. Surely you know me better than that?"

He sighed. "I do. Yes. I do know you better than that. But it's like I told you. I keep expecting to lose you somehow. As if I'm not allowed to be happy for any length of time. As if you'll wake up some morning and wonder what you ever saw in me. And that will be that."

She shook her head at him. "And you call yourself an optimist! Listen, Ed. Everyone has fears like those. When you love someone -- when they mean everything to you -- it's scary. Because what if they changed their mind and didn't love you anymore? What if they wasted away from some incurable disease? What if they ran out in front of a bus?

"The trick is to confront your fears. See them for what they are: the fear of being alone. It wasn't so bad when you were alone, was it? Because no one could take anything away from you. There was nothing to take. And in a way, that wasn't so bad. But here you are – your life full to the brim for the first time. And now there's plenty to lose. And the thought of being alone after so much joy is terrifying. But you've got to find a way to face it. To accept that it could happen. Because otherwise, you'll spend all your time afraid of something that may never occur. And you'll let your fear rob you of your joy."

He stared into her amethyst eyes, marveling at her. "How did you get so wise?" he asked softly.

She grinned sadly. "I've had this pep talk before. When my mother died. It still took me a long time to come to grips with it. But eventually I did. And so will you. Meanwhile, I'm still here, and I'm not planning on going anywhere else. So get used to it."

He kissed her, then drew back to look at her face. "No," he said with a mock sigh. "I'm not used to you yet." Then he kissed her again, drawing her close. And closer still.

***

A long time later, she turned to him and said, "I hesitate to bring the subject back up, but is there anything we can do to get John more often?"

He sat up on the couch and ran a hand through his hair. "If we ask for more visitation, she'll make us go to court to get it. And that will mean that John will be caught in the middle of all the ugliness. I'd rather not put him through that."

Chandra nodded. "Okay. But maybe he'd consider it worth the hassle. Don't you think we should ask him first? Let him decide if he wants to pursue it that far. It's his life, Ed. She shouldn't be able to take his choices away from him simply because it's what she wants."

He twined his fingers with hers in an absent gesture as he thought about it. Eventually he said, "I suppose we could see what he wants to do. It's hard to ask him to go to battle against his own mother, though."

"I know," she said softly. "But you won't be asking him to do that. He'll have to decide that on his own. Can you trust him to make the best choice for his life?"

He thought about how much his son had grown these past months, showing a side of him that his father had never noticed before. And he said, "Yes. I can trust him."

***

"Sky 5 to SHADO HQ. Come in, HQ."

Alec grabbed the mike and answered. "HQ here, Lew. What's the situation?"

"We've got debris, Colonel," Captain Waterman radioed back. "All along the ice shelf. We'll need a team to clear it, since it's probably visible by satellite."

"Alright," Freeman said. "We'll get someone on it right away. Tell me, Lew. Is it theirs or ours?"

The captain's sigh was full of regret, and it came over the mike clearly. "It's ours, sir. There's no sign of the UFO."

There was a long silence, then the colonel said, "Right. Do a circuit of the area, just in case the UFO was damaged and had to put down on the ice. If you don't find anything within the hour, head back to Skydiver."

"Yes, sir. Sky 5 out."

***

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Alec. You handled the crisis well. We were warned that the interceptors' radar needed to be upgraded. Apparently, our current upgrades weren't sufficient to completely fix the problem."

Col. Freeman lounged against the edge of the conference table in Straker's HQ office, refusing to sit. He took a drink from his glass, then said, "Damn it, Ed! Charlie Morris was a friend of mine. What am I supposed to tell Sammy?"

Straker frowned. "I thought his wife's name was Deborah."

Alec nodded. "It is. Sammy's his son. About six, I think." He brooded into his drink.

The commander was reminded of his conversation with Chandra the day before. Death stared them in the face every day in their fight to protect Earth from invasion. He'd accepted it long ago. It had only been recently that it had begun to bother him again. Since he'd found Chandra. Since he'd found out how wonderful life was supposed to be.

"I'm sorry, Alec," he told his friend. "It's never easy to lose a friend. But you can tell Sammy that his father died a hero. Saving lives."

"Ed . . ."

"His wife will have his medal, Alec. But it won't mean anything to a little boy. Not until he's older. So you tell him that his dad was a great man. It'll be enough to get him through."

The colonel knew the military's standard line for all surviving widows and orphans. And his friend and commanding officer was suddenly okaying something else. Something that might actually be a help instead of the usual bullshit. He met Straker's eyes for a long moment, trying to figure out why the change. Then he sighed. Did it even matter why? "Right," he said. "I'll tell him."

***

"Well, Lieutenant?"

Ford stopped in front of his commander's desk and handed him the report. "Nothing so far, sir. Sky 1 has been doing routine flybys of the Sydney research facility once every hour since you requested it. The sky's clear."

Straker gave the lieutenant a shrewd glance. "And you think I'm chasing wild geese, don't you, Ford?"

Keith grimaced. Funny how Straker always saw through him. Was he really that transparent? "It's just that it's such a long shot for them to go there, sir. I mean, I suppose they've figured out by now that the device isn't in Antarctica anymore. But I don't get why they'd be looking for it in Australia. They can't know where we took it."

"Do you want to bet the lives of everyone in that facility on your belief, Ford? We have no idea what the aliens will be able to tell concerning that device. It's the most advanced piece of machinery we've ever seen. Our best scientists still haven't figured out what a lot of the components even do. What if one of those components is a homing beacon? It would make sense for it to have one, don't you think? How hard would it be for the aliens to find it then?"

Ford sighed. He hated discussing anything with the commander. He always walked away feeling like an idiot. "Yes, sir. I'll . . . let you know if we spot anything."

"Thank you."

**Chapter 3**

"I don't think you should go."

Straker straightened the stack of reports with a thud. "Listen, Alec . . ."

Freeman interrupted, his arms folded and his countenance belligerent. "Look, Ed. We never found that UFO."

The commander slid the reports into the cabinet and locked it with a snap. "Kelly found something in that device, Alec. Something incredible. It could be the key to unlocking the aliens' technology for us. Now what would you have me do? Tell him I can't come and check it out, because we lost track of a UFO over a week ago? Come on! That UFO couldn't have lasted very long in our atmosphere. And if it intended to destroy the facility, it had ample opportunity before now."

"It could be hiding somewhere nearby."

"Why? On the off-chance that I'll visit the research facility? Really, Alec! Unlike you, I refuse to jump at shadows. Especially when we've finally – finally! – got a breakthrough that could change everything for us."

"Damn it! Will you just listen to reason?"

Straker sighed, resting against the edge of his HQ desk and meeting his friend's worried eyes. "I'm more than willing to listen to reason, Alec. If you can give me a good one."

The colonel hated when his friend did that, turning the tables on him and making him scramble for answers that he didn't have. His mind wasn't as lightning fast as Ed's, damn it! Often, he could barely keep up with his commander. How was he supposed to come up out of the blue with a reason Straker would accept not to go? "You know the facility is a possible target because of that damned device we found. You had Sky 1 practically camping out over Sydney for three days!"

"Yes. I did. And nothing happened." Straker sighed. "I'm not always right, Alec. Maybe this time I outguessed them. Maybe they had another target in mind. Or maybe they're still looking for the device. Either way, the facility in Sydney is fine. No UFOs. No danger. So, I'm going."

"Fine!" the colonel said, giving up. "Go ahead. But if you wind up dead, don't expect me to step into your shoes. I want nothing to do with it!"

Straker smiled sweetly. "I'll make a special note of it in my will."

***

"I'm going with you."

"No!"

Her hands went to her hips – a bad sign. "Stop me."

Straker wondered why everyone was fighting him today. They had good news. Didn't they understand that this was good news? It was important to look into it. See what they could see with this device. Maybe unlock their whole damned technology. And wouldn't that be grand – being on even ground with the bastards for once? But it seemed that no one but him saw that. Everyone just wanted to fuss about unimportant things. "Chandra," he said.

"If you go, I go. I'm not negotiating this with you."

He sat on the side of the bed, abandoning his packing for a moment. "Look," he said reasonably, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice. "I know you're concerned for me. I know Alec's concerned for me. But it's unnecessary. I'll be fine. And you'll just be bored."

She frowned. "Alec's worried?"

He ran a hand over his face. "Chandra!" he said, his impatience leaking through.

She came closer, eying him carefully. "Why would I be bored? I happen to know Thoelian technology. Maybe I can help you figure out what some of the functions are for some of the parts."

He looked at her in surprise. "I thought you said you couldn't describe their technology to us? That you didn't have enough of a background in physics to do so."

"Well, yeah," she replied. "But you'll have the piece right there to look over, right? I won't have to come up with it on my own. It'll be a lot easier to tell what it is and how it functions if I get a good look at it, Ed. I may not be a physicist, but I'm not a dunce either."

He simply stared at her in shock. "You could tell us all that by looking at it?"

She shrugged. "Well, I'm not promising anything. But probably. Yeah. It's not very advanced technology when it comes down to it, Ed. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Maybe not advanced by _your_ people's technology, Chandra."

She grinned. "Sorry. I meant no disrespect. Shall I pack?"

He sighed.

***

"You know, I really like this private jet."

His lips quirked slightly, but he continued working. "So you've said."

She laid back against the duvet. "I suppose it's all passe to you by now."

He finally looked up from studying the photos Major Kelly had sent his laptop and met her eyes. And his frown of concentration suddenly bloomed into a warm smile. She looked exotic and alluring in the dim bedroom lighting, her nakedness enticing him away from thoughts of anything other than her. And in spite of the fact that they'd made love not an hour ago, he set the laptop aside and came back to the bed, shedding his robe and reaching for her to bring her close. "Some things never get passe," he told her huskily.

Chandra grinned and slid her arms around his neck to kiss him. "Glad to hear it."

***

Later, she watched him sleeping, trying to restrain herself from running an admiring hand down his body. He needed his sleep – and never seemed to get enough. He'd told her he would take things easier once they married. She knew that he'd adjusted his schedule so that he could spend more time with her. But the truth was that he always brought work home with him, so it was more a matter of a change in geography than actual time off the job. But she wasn't complaining. Not as long as she could still get him to close his endless files and play for a while. He was far too serious most of the time. And always surprised whenever she got him to laugh and truly relax.

She gave in and delicately traced a finger down his throat and into his chest hair. He was so beautiful. So lean and sexy. She was glad he didn't seem to be aware of it. Men who knew that they were good-looking had never appealed to her. They were too full of themselves to allow for anyone else to have a place in their lives. But Ed had never been that way. With him, her only competition was his job. And she understood his devotion to it, so it didn't bother her.

A soft finger followed the thin line of his hair down his torso and dipped into his navel. She found that one spot so delightful. She didn't know why. Perhaps it reminded her that he had once been a baby, cradled in his mother's womb. Perhaps it made her think of the little boy that she'd met not so very long ago, who had looked at her with serious blue eyes and wanted to help her. She didn't know. But she knew that it thrilled her every time she touched him there.

She glanced admiringly back up his body – and found his eyes open. And watching her. She smiled. "Hi."

His lips curved slowly into a sleepy smile. "If you go any lower, I may disappoint you. I'm no Casanova."

She supposed that was a comment on his virility, although she didn't know the context. She raised a brow at him. "Is that a challenge, Ed?"

His smile widened into a grin, and he pulled her up for a kiss. "No. Definitely not a challenge. Just a statement of fact. Even I have my limits, although you seem to be intent on proving otherwise."

She chuckled and snuggled against his chest. "I haven't seen any limits, Ed."

He kissed her hair. "That's what I mean."

She turned her face to meet his eyes, her violet ones a little bewildered. "It is?"

He chuckled. "Never mind. What were you thinking while you were touching me?"

"How special you are to me," she said softly.

"Hmmm. I do that a lot too."

"What?"

"Look at you while you're sleeping and think how wonderful you are."

She grinned. "I guess we're both besotted."

"We must be." But he didn't sound worried about it. "Would you like to see the components that Kelly sent photos of? Maybe you can give us some idea what they are."

She bit back a sigh. It was never possible to keep his brilliant mind on lesser topics for long. "Sure, Ed."

He got up to retrieve the laptop, then pleased her by climbing back into bed with it, so that they could continue to snuggle. "Let me show you what we've identified so far," he began.

***

They arrived at Sydney Airport on a sunshiny morning with virtually no cloud cover. Their car was a fancy little two-seater that rode like a dream, making the commander wonder if he should look into getting one for himself. Or perhaps for his wife. He intended to teach her how to drive in the near future. It was a skill he felt she might want to acquire, now that she was living day to day like other people.

As he drove toward the research facility, his eyes kept straying to the sky. He knew with no clouds, Sky 1 would be forced to search from higher than normal altitudes, so he wouldn't be likely to catch a glimpse of it passing overhead. He had ordered the jet to do regular flybys for the entire duration of his visit, just to ease Alec's mind. But he found now that he was here, he was a little nervous after all about this visit. He hadn't anticipated feeling any concern. But then, he hadn't planned on bringing his wife to Australia either. And safety suddenly became a higher priority with her along.

He was excited about the possibility of her identifying some of the components for them. Already, she had given him some idea of what certain parts might be, merely by looking at the photos on his laptop. Once she held the pieces in her hands, she might be able to give them an even clearer picture of the technology they were dealing with. Although he wondered how he would explain her in-depth knowledge to Major Kelly.

Straker glanced at her as he drove. She had the window down and was enjoying the way the breeze whipped her dark hair back from her face. She constantly amazed him. As a time traveler, she should be more focused on what she hoped to accomplish in each place she visited, concerned over all with the big picture. But Chandra was not like that at all. She focused on the little things, enjoying each moment to its fullest, stretching each second of time out by immersing all her senses in it. He doubted that he would ever come to the end of the wonder of her.

"Stop staring," she said without opening her eyes, her face still lifted to the breeze.

He grinned. "Why? I like staring at you."

Her lips twitched. "You're supposed to be watching the road, Ed. Not me."

"Oh, I think I can manage to do both," he assured her calmly. He slowed to turn into the parking lot of the facility, then slid into a spot near the front entrance. He unhooked his harness, then reached across and kissed her, threading his hand through her hair as he deepened the kiss. When he finally released her and sat back, he was a little breathless. And Chandra looked dazed.

She smiled shakily and said, "Thanks."

He loved it when he could dazzle her. She so often dazzled him that he needed some way to even things out. He grinned at her. "Anytime."

Straker got out and was walking around the front of the car to help her get out from her side when the world exploded.

**Chapter 4**

The car lifted off the ground in the explosion, and Straker flew into the windshield, his left shoulder and side piercing the glass painfully.

Chandra was blinded by the burst of light from the blast, but she nonetheless saw her husband hit the windshield. "Ed!" she screamed, trying to get the harness unhooked so that she could get out of the car and help him. The car fell back onto the ground with a thud, skewing around so that it no longer faced forward. Straker was dislodged by the jolt and slid off the hood, and Chandra screamed again, tearing fruitlessly at the damned harness, which had jammed. She made herself take a deep breath, fighting the panic roaring through her mind. She calmed herself and thought about where she wanted to go.

Instantly she was outside the car, dodging fiery debris that was still raining down from the sky from the explosion. She turned to look at the facility. It was a mass of torn steel and concrete, blackened from the blast and burning fiercely in places. A rank plume of smoke rose from the crumbled interior of the building. Her ears were still ringing, but she could dimly hear cries and moans coming from inside. But she couldn't help them now. Ed needed her first.

She finally located him next to a nearby car. He lay in a crumpled heap near the front tire, his right leg at an unnatural angle and his cream suit blackened and bloody. She was sobbing when she knelt down beside him, afraid to touch him because of the extent of his injuries. His face was bloody and scraped raw from contact with the parking lot, his beautiful blonde hair matted and filthy, but it was the blood pouring out from his shoulder and side that was the real concern. Gingerly, she peeled back his jacket to look at the damage. And moaned when she saw how bad it was. "Ed! No, Ed!" she cried, fiercely blinking away her tears so that she could see him clearly.

She ruthlessly tore the bottom of her dress off to make a pad for his wounds, pressing it against the worst of the bleeding in an effort to stem the flow. "Please, Ed," she murmured without being aware that she was even speaking. The pressure on his chest made his eyelids flicker, and he tried to open them. Chandra sobbed in relief at this sign of consciousness. "Ed! Ed, it's okay. I'm here."

He couldn't manage to open his eyes, and he could feel his limbs going cold with shock and blood loss. But he couldn't go yet. There was something he needed to tell her. Something important. Oh, yes. He needed to tell her that he loved her.

"Chan . . ."

His head dropped to his chest and was still.

She stared at him in shock. "No! No, Ed!" Frantically, she tried to find a pulse. "You can't! You can't do this! _Ed!_" She gathered him up into her arms, holding his head gently and rocking back and forth, sobbing incoherently. She was beyond thought, beyond action – beyond anything but her overwhelming grief.

She didn't even hear their approach, reacting only when rough arms dragged her away from her husband's body. Then she fought, screaming wildly as she tore at the restraining arms that held her. A gloved hand backhanded her sharply across the face, and she sagged limply in the arms of the red-suited man holding her.

***

"What do you mean, we've lost contact?"

Lt. Ford swallowed at the colonel's harsh tone. _Please don't shoot the messenger_, he thought. "Sir, the facility isn't responding to our hails. We're getting nothing but static."

"Damn it! I told him not to go. Didn't I tell him?" Freeman fiercely asked no one in particular. He ran a hand through his hair, disordering it. After a moment, he sat back in the command chair and said, "What about Ed? Have you reached him?"

"No, sir."

Alec stared at him in horror, his worst fears fighting to overcome him. He took a breath, reaching deep for calm. Then he said, "Get me Sky 1."

"Yes, sir."

***

"I'm sorry, Colonel," Captain Carlin said into his microphone onboard Sky 1. "The facility is gone. The blast must have been devastating to take out so much of it."

Alec closed his eyes, fervently wishing he'd just wake up and get this nightmare over. Then he opened them, asking the question he needed answered more than any other. "Is Ed's car in the parking lot, Peter? He was driving a bronze Aston Martin DBS."

"The medical teams have already begun arriving at the facility, Colonel, so things are a bit chaotic down there. I'll fly in closer for a look."

After a tense minute, he radioed back. "I've spotted the car, sir. It looks damaged, but it wasn't consumed in the explosion."

"It's in the parking lot?" Freeman asked harshly, his eyes meeting Ford's at his communications station. Alec saw the same horror in Keith's face that he felt.

"Yes, sir. Right near where the front entrance used to be."

"_God!_" Ed. Ed's sweet wife. Alec fought back useless tears. He had to be strong for all of them now. "Listen, Peter. You've got to find that damned UFO! We can't let it get away, do you understand? No matter what, we can't allow that UFO to get past us!"

Carlin was in shock. "You think they have the _commander?_"

"We don't know for sure yet, but what are the odds? They waited days before striking that facility, Peter. Until today when Ed was there. We can only assume they wouldn't leave without what they came for."

"Yes, sir," the captain said grimly. "It's possible the UFO has already flown out of range. But I'll go higher and search for it, sir."

"Find it, Peter!" Alec begged, his voice harsh with emotion.

***

"What do you have?" The colonel asked -- not because he wanted to know, but because he _needed_ to know.

Major Wilkins answered on the videophone in Straker's office. "We haven't found any survivors, Colonel. The blast area was massive and took out the entire facility. I'll say one thing for them, they were thorough."

"Any signs of struggle outside the wreckage, Major?"

Wilkins' face tightened. "Yes, sir. A bit. We've found blood trails in a few areas around the perimeter of the building, as if bodies were carted off. And there's a rather large pool of blood in the parking lot near the commander's car."

Alec lost what little color he had at that news. "Keep looking, Major!" he demanded fiercely. But they both knew it would be a token search.

***

He had his head in his hands when Lt. Ford entered the office. He wearily scrubbed his face before saying with some semblance of authority, "Well, Ford?"

"I'm sorry, sir," the lieutenant replied. And he was. _Sincerely_. "Sky 1 has made contact with the UFO."

Alec jumped up and followed him out of the office and into the Control room. He grabbed the microphone from the radar station. "Peter, what have you got?"

Captain Carlin radioed back. "I have the UFO on positive track, sir. Visual contact in one minute, thirty seconds."

"Right." The colonel's heart was a lump of lead in his breast, but he stayed where he was, ignoring the eyes of all the operatives in the room that were trained on him. Damn it! It should never have come to this! He should not be the one having to order this hit. Not him! Not Ed's best friend. Let someone else do it. _Anyone_ else.

But he knew it was up to him.

Too soon Carlin radioed HQ. "Coming into visual range now, Colonel."

"Get it, Peter!" Alec said hoarsely.

Peter looked around for the UFO and spotted it heading skyward at high speed. He hit the throttle, gaining speed and altitude as he pursued. "UFO sighted," he said, closing in for the kill shot.

But as he locked onto the fleeing craft, he kept seeing the commander's face. Years ago, when he'd first met Straker after the attack that had taken his sister. Ten years later, when Straker had told him that she was dead. And just a few weeks ago, when the commander had smiled as his bride approached him down the aisle at the studio. Straker had made all the difference in his life. Peter knew he would never have been the man he was without his commander's influence over the years.

Could he do this? Could he take away Straker's chance at possibly coming out of this victorious? He'd done it before, Peter knew. Cheated death when all the odds were against him. Could Peter take that chance – no matter how small – away from the man he owed everything to?

His thumb depressed the button to fire his missile, and he watched as it arced toward the UFO. Watched as it exploded in the air.

He sighed deeply, then radioed HQ. "Detonation positive. UFO unharmed and leaving Earth's atmosphere." He toggled the switch to end communications with HQ and closed his eyes, praying fervently that the commander would somehow triumph again.

***

Alec stood still, shocked immobile at the news. It couldn't be happening. The nightmare couldn't possibly continue on. There was only so much a man could take, after all. He turned to Ford and said gruffly, his voice nearly inaudible, "Get me Moonbase."

"Yes, sir."

He refused to make the same mistake twice, so he said nothing to Moonbase about the UFO's probable cargo when he ordered the interceptors to launch.

But the aliens must have been watching for them, because the UFO veered off sharply after leaving Earth's atmosphere, heading off at an angle that made it impossible for the interceptors to get close enough to head them off.

Alec looked years older when Moonbase reported in, and he walked away without a word, entering Straker's office and closing the door. Lt. Ford told Lt. Ellis to recall the interceptors, but gave no explanation for the colonel's abrupt departure. The entire Control room was silent, and he knew they were all looking at that closed door and asking themselves the same thing: _What do we do now? _

**End of Part 1**


End file.
